Brian Krzanich is shaking things up at Intel. Now comes the wait for measurable results, which may be scarce as investors wait for fourth-quarter results Thursday.

The chip maker’s new CEO, who hosted his first Consumer Electronics Show keynote last week, inherited a company with a sick cash cow–chips for personal computers, a business that has shrunk while sales of tablets have soared.

Intel’s shares have benefited lately from signs that the PC market is bottoming out. But being a long-term bull on the company requires faith that the company can find ways to grow in new markets, as Krzanich has vowed to do.

And not much growth is expected in the period ended in September. While analysts’ average estimates point to about 8% greater earnings per share than the year-earlier period, their $13.7 billion target for revenue is up only 1.5%.

Intel plans to report its earnings after market close and hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Here are some key things to watch:

Tablet traction: Krzanich in November set an unusually bold goal for Intel to boost its position in chips for tablets, a market now dominated by companies that license technology from ARM Holdings. He vowed to place Intel processors in more than 40 million tablets this year, quadrupling its current shipments to makers of those products.

No one is expecting dramatic signs of progress toward that goal on Thursday. But there could be some, an outgrowth of Krzanich’s vow to dive further into low-priced gadgets than predecessor Paul Otellini targeted. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard introduced seven-inch Intel-powered tablets for less than $100 in the holiday shopping period, for example, a low level for a company long used to selling chips alone for hundreds of dollars.

Android action: Intel has long leaned heavily on its relationship with Microsoft, whose Windows operating system is used in most PCs. But that alliance doesn’t help in tablets and smartphones, the source of most growth in the industry.

So Intel has invested heavily to make sure that Google’s Android works just as well on its chips as rival ARM-based processors, an effort that could soon start having a slight impact on the chip maker’s numbers soon.

At the CES show, Krzanich said Intel will help boost security features on Android to make it more palatable to corporate customers, a dig at one of Microsoft’s real strongholds.

(Intel has also tightly embraced Chromebooks, the other Google-powered offering for clamshell-style portable computers that also come in ARM-powered versions).

The “other” category: Intel lumps emerging businesses like chips for tablets and smartphones into a reporting segment called “other Intel architecture operating segments.”

It hasn’t produced a pretty picture lately. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, revenue in that segment declined 9.3% to $1.1 billion from the year-earlier period, while its operating loss swelled to $606 million from $235 million.

Don’t look for a profit this time out. But the revenue line could be interesting.

Bigger iron: Intel’s best numbers come from its data center group, which includes sales of chips used in server systems. The company has little serious competition in the market at the moment, so there’s little pressure on pricing or profit margins.

But the business is turbulent. Internet services like Google and Amazon.com are still buying more servers, but conventional companies like banks and retailers are slowing purchases. The countervailing trends could produce surprises Thursday.

Filling the factory: With PC sales still soft, Intel at least temporarily faces excess manufacturing capacity–a potentially costly problem. One symbol is a decision to keep a new factory building in Chandler, Ariz., closed for the moment rather than outfitting it with costly manufacturing tools.

Intel trimmed capital spending plans twice in 2013, though in November it projected that spending in 2014 would be nearly $11 billion–roughly flat with last year. Investors will be watching for any reduction in that forecast, which could tend to boost Intel’s closely watched profit margins.